Nevada’s Medicaid for All plan could (have) lead the way

Any Nevada resident could sign up for Medicaid if Nevada’s governor signs into law a bill the legislature passed in late May.

And whether Nevada becomes the first state in the U.S. to offer health care to all its residents or not, the bill is changing the conversation.

Nevada Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval has said he would either sign the bill into law or veto it by June 16.

There are many details to flesh out, but the basic idea is Medicaid on a sliding scale.

Those between the Medicaid cutoff and the 400 percent of the poverty line could use any Affordable Care Act’s existing financial aid to purchase Medicaid, which they could do on the Nevada exchange. Those who make too much for subsidies could still buy in.

In a sense, Medicaid would become Nevada’s public option, and if it passes, everyone in that state could afford some type of health care.

“There is no way people can be productive members of society and take care of their families if health care is a privilege and not a right,” state Assembly member Michael Sprinkle, who introduced the measure, is reported as saying in a June 6 Vox article on the bill. “That’s really where this bill started, thinking through, how do we make health care a right in our state.”

While Medicare for All is an active possibility (Rep. John Conyers’ Improved and Expanded Medicare for All House Bill has 112 co-sponsors and Bernie Sanders is expected to introduce a Senate bill), the states have more say over Medicaid, and therefore more power to affect change.